Various types of protective covers have heretofor have been devised for enclosing and providing protection for the upstanding clubs in a golf bag. These covers have in the main been of two distinct types. The first type is the relatively conventional construction incorporating a single compartment shell that is positioned over the ends of the clubs protruding from the golf bag and secured to the top of the golf bag. This type of cover is merely a rain or dust protector and has only a single interior compartment.
The second major type of prior art cover is best defined as an individual club protector that is most often provided only for the woods. These covers may have one or more compartments which receive respective club heads with the cover usually being secured and supported entirely by the clubs. This second type of cover, which is generally fabricated from a pliable material such as vinyl or knitted fabric, does provide protection as between individual clubs to avoid nicking and maring occurring as a result of justling during carrying or transport of the bag or when picking up or laying down the golf bag. While some portection is provided by this type of cover to prevent this maring and scratching of club heads, such a cover does not provide any substantial structural protection or segregation as between the relatively heavy irons and the woods.
The problem to which this invention is directed is encountered most often during transport of a golf bag on commercial aircraft. A golf bag is generally and usually required to be carried in the cargo compartment of an aircraft and is thus subject to numerous intermediate handling and transfer operations between the terminal and aircraft and return upon completion of the trip. Loading and unloading operations at the aircraaft usually involve the use of inclined, mechanized conveyors and golf bag in the course of usual handling is merely placed on the conveyor. If a golf bag is improperly positioned on the conveyor, such as having the upper end projecting or extending over the edge of the conveyor, there is a very strong possibility that the entire golf bag will fall off the conveyor and onto the pavement below. When this happens, the golf bag will initially hit in an inverted position with the golf heads extending downwardly. The prior art covers are inadequate and not designed to restrain the downward movement of the clubs, and as a consequence, the relatively heavy irons which are of a shorter length than the woods will gather momentum and forceably drive into the heads of the woods where they can severly mar, crack the head or even readily break the head from the shaft.
This problem has been increasing due to the substantial increase in air travel with people carrying their own clubs for personal use at the destination. Also, while air travel has been used as an example, careless handling by personnel of hotels, resorts and golf courses while transporting golf bags as luggage can obviously result in simimlar damage. Accordingly, a real need has been developed to provide a protective cover which will effectively prevent this type of injury or damage to the woods of a club set to the mutual benefit of the golfer and the transportation agency since it is expensive and time consuming and nearly impossible, to replace one club of a matched set of woods.